No one was sure afterwards whose idea the first concert was, but once the idea took hold, the trio couldn't let it go.
"I mean," said Mac, "we might even be able to raise some money. Anthony, you'll be able to buy that drum kit. We can rent out spaces and do more gigs! Maybe we'll even get famous!"
"I just see two problems," said Bertram, pushing his bright blue bangs out of his eyes. Ever since he'd found out there was no rule against natural hair colors, he had been experimenting. "One. We don't have a space. Two. We don't even have a name."
"We can figure those out," said Anthony. "But if we want to fight against You-Know-Who, we'll need to go public sometime."
"How about our practice room?" Mac asked. "If it can.." he looked around to see if anyone was listening. "You know. Change. We can just say it's an unused classroom or storeroom. And you won't have to worry about your own drum kit yet, we can let the room create it."
"That's not a bad idea," Anthony said, mulling it over. "I'd love to play on King's Road one day!"
As it turned out, however, getting together to plan wasn't that easy. To prepare for the OWLs next year, the teachers decided to prepare the students for the workload by giving them lots of work this year as well. Anthony had long pages of sums that involved adding the unknown using letters. Their Transfiguration professor McGonagall had them turning ordinary items into living things. Defense Against the Dark Arts was grueling as well, as their new professor was so terrified that Voldemort would be around any corner that she set them to learning what seemed like every defensive spell ever created.
And there was Diana. Anthony wasn't taking Divination this year, but they still talked when they saw each other in the Hufflepuff common room. And, much to the annoyance of Mac and Bertram, Anthony had taken to talking to her in the hallways as well. When she showed up to rehearsal one day, Bertram and Mac pulled Anthony aside.
"What are you doing, mate?" asked Bertram. "We said we wouldn't tell anyone about this place!"
"I didn't," said Anthony. "Not really. I said it was a music room and that we use it to practice. She's really nice, she'll be fine."
The boys looked back and Diana and she waved shyly.
"Let's make a promise," said Mac. "Nothing breaks up the band. Especially not girls. Agreed?"
"Agreed," said Anthony and Bertram. They put their hands in the middle and shook.
Diana looked nervously at them and said, "Is it ok that I be here? I don't want to interrupt anything." She pushed her glasses back on her nose and brushed her hair out of her face.
"It's fine," said Anthony. "Let's practice!"
He sat down at the drum kit and hit his sticks together. "We are Sex Bomb! 1-"
"No," said Bertram. "We agreed we didn't like that one."
"Fine," said Anthony. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5.."
Diana listened with rapt attention, clapping wildly after every song. When they were done, she walked up to Anthony and Anthony left with her apologetically. "Sorry, guys," he said, "We're just going to take a walk. I'll catch up with you at supper."
They walked the halls, talking about classes. Her favorite was Care of Magical Creatures.
"We just learned about doxies," she said. "They look cute, but they're actually really dangerous. What's your favorite class?"
Anthony told her all about Arithmancy and how he liked the logic of it, figuring out equations like putting together a puzzle. Soon it was time for dinner in the Great Hall.
"I need to go sit with my roommates," Diana said. "But I'll see you later." And before Anthony could react, she had kissed him on the cheek and disappeared. Anthony stood stunned, holding his cheek.
Bertram found him like that and punched his shoulder. "You ok, mate? What happened?"
"I'm fine," said Anthony. "Come on, let's eat, I'm starving. I thought of a couple of names for the band."
"Ok, hit me."
"Mouse rat?"
"Nah"
"Fanged Frisbees"
"Hmm.. Not bad. Anything else?"
Anthony hesitated. "Well, there is one more. The Screaming Banshees."
"I like it! You saved the best for last."
"Well, it's actually not my idea. It's Diana's."
Bertram put down his fork. "Are you going to let her write our songs, too?" he asked. "Just because she kissed you? I saw you in the hallway."
"It's not like that," protested Anthony.
But Bertram didn't talk to him the rest of the day and was missing when Anthony met Mac in the Puff common room. Diana saw him and rushed over to him first, brandishing a piece of paper at him.
"Anthony, look! Now you can be a real band! Are you surprised?"
THE SCREAMING BANSHEES
ONE NIGHT ONLY
OCTOBER 30
7TH FLOOR
8PM
"Oh," said Anthony. "That's next month. Maybe we should wait a little more."
"I already put the flyers around the school," said Diana. "You're not mad, are you?" She stuck out her lip prettily and looked into Anthony's eyes.
"I guess it's ok," said Anthony. "What do you think, Mac?"
"We do know a lot of covers," said Mac. "And we're not going to be a band unless we actually have a concert. We've been talking about it, we might as well do it. Yeah, I'm in! Where's Bertram?"
Anthony shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not exactly sure. We had an argument about…" he looked at Diana. "About nothing really," he finished lamely. "He'll be all right, I'll talk to him tonight."
But Bertram stormed into their dorm room, a crumpled flyer in his fist. He tossed it at Anthony. "So when were you going to tell me about this?" he demanded.
"We thought it would be fun," said Anthony. "We've been talking about it for a while, we just decided to do something about it."
"You decided? Or Diana?" Bertram fumed, pointing to a heart over the i.
"It was her idea," conceded Anthony. "But Mac and I-"
"I'm going to bed," said Bertram. And he pulled the covers over himself and rolled over. Anthony stayed awake until Bertram's fake snores turned into real ones, then finally fell asleep himself, exhausted.
Bertram didn't sit next to him at breakfast the next day or at class. Every time Anthony tried to get his attention, Bertram turned away. Anthony and Mac missed him in the Puff common room and practiced a few times with only themselves and an overenthusiastic Diana in attendance. Even Anthony had to admit that her cheers and claps were getting a little distracting.
Exactly one week before the concert, Mac and Anthony were listlessly tuning their instruments, not that they really needed it.
"I dunno, Anthony," Mac said. "Without him, we only have a couple of songs and can we really even call ourselves a band?"
"I can sing!" Diana cut in.
Mac looked at her, then back at Anthony. "He hasn't shown up to rehearsals in a month and it doesn't look like he'll be here for the concert either. I dunno what you're thinking, that he'll just walk through that door and-"
Suddenly, Bertram entered the door and picked up a mic stand, sheet music in his hand.
Anthony and Mac stopped what they were doing and stared at him, stunned. Diana squeaked and looked from one boy to another, eyes wide.
"What?" Bertram said. "We always agreed we wouldn't let a girl split us up. And face it, without me, you're not really a band." He ran a hand through his hair, now hot pink, and sighed. "And…it would be nice if we all made decisions as a band from now on."
Anthony and Mac looked at each other bemusedly.
"Well, come on," said Bertram. "I have a new song I want to try out."
Diana clapped wildly and whistled with her fingers in her ears.
One week later, the Room of Requirement was fuller than the boys ever thought possible.
"I never knew there would be such a turnout," gulped Mac, peering out from the backstage area. "Does it grow to hold all these people? Does Hogwarts even have this many people?"
"It'll be fine," said Anthony. "Just think about the music."
Beside them, Bertram was humming and doing vocal runs.
"Shall we start?" asked Anthony, hitting Bertram on the shoulder.
"Yeah," said Bertram and Mac. "Screaming Banshees on 3!" said Mac. "1..2.."
They all muttered Screaming Banshees.
"Or, y'know, name to be decided later," said Bertram.
They stepped out onto the stage and looked out at the crowd. The Room of Requirement had been transformed into what looked like a disused classroom with a large platform at the front and a corridor going into what would be the teacher's office. They were using the office as a backstage area. A couple of lights floated near the ceiling, illuminating the instruments and microphone on the stage. Students were sitting at desks and crowding in the back, with Diana in the front row wearing a robe that said "Screaming Banshees" in large flashing sequins on the front. Regulus stood in the back, surprise on his face when he saw them. He folded his arms, but didn't move.
Bertram tapped the mic. "Um, hi," he said. "We're going to start with one of our favorite songs."
Anthony nervously tapped his sticks together. "1, 2, 3, 4," he began and his friends followed his lead. As the boys played, the crowd swayed and clapped. They played one of Bertram's songs about coming together in times of trouble. The crowd held up lit wands. Regulus in the back looked thoughtful.
"All we are saying," the boys sang, "is give peace a chance." As they sang the refrain over and over, the crowd joined in and no one noticed Regulus slipping out the back. The trio finished their set and passed around a wizard hat, looking out over the smiling and cheering faces of the crowd. Diana came up to give Anthony a kiss on the mouth, but even Bertram's spirits were only dampened a moment as they all hugged each other, beaming.